Saturday, October 31, 2015

I love to make personalized cards for my grandnephews and grandnieces by using photos of them on their cards. Today, I'm sharing the cards I made them for Halloween this year.

I usually look into the Snapfish or Facebook albums my nieces load their photos into to find the photos I will use. This super fun pic of 4 year old James (see his head in the cauldron with the pumpkins?) was taken recently on their visit to Quebec for his great grandmothers birthday. I just framed the photo in black and terracotta and added a sentiment from Peek a Boo Sentiments by Waltzingmouse.

For James' sister, 1 1/2 year old Madelyn, I used a cute photo of her from the same trip to Quebec and added a hand made witches hat - with another sentiment from Peek a Boo Sentiments.

Here is 5 year old Landon - but he's younger than that in this photo - I couldn't find a newer one that fit for Halloween. I thought this sentiment, a combination of two stamps from Ocean Bound by Waltzingmouse, worked perfectly with the pirate mask! The bat stamp is from Halloween Party.

And last, but not least - here is 3 year old Mila, Landon's sister. I added a stamped and die cut witches hat and pumpkin from Tim Holtz Crazy Things stamp and die sets. This is a photo from when they went apple picking this fall.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

As is the recent tradition over at A Vintage Journey - when there are 5 Fridays in the month - some of the Creative Guides create and post tags. I signed up to create a tag for today - October's 5th Friday! We can create any kind of tag we like - using any techniques/supplies - always
keeping Tim Holtz as our inspiration! I decided to go with a simple autumn
theme. Even though I love mixed media - I've discovered I still like 'clean and simple' in my designs!

Here are some photos of how I colored my tag. First I rubbed Distress Inks - Ground Espresso, Fossilized Amber and Rusty Hinge on my craft mat, spritzed water on it then rubbed my tag over it, drying it, then rubbing it over the mix again - until I got the colors and look that I wanted.

I stamped one of the text stamps from Ledger Script over the left of my tag with Ground Espresso. I didn't even use an acrylic block - just inked the stamp and pressed it against the tag with my fingers.

Next I stamped the flower stem from the Flower Garden Set using Ground Espresso Ink - then I colored it in with my Brushed Corduroy Distress Marker.

Have you seen the wonderful flower tutorials my fellow Creative Guide, Jennie has on her blog - I have admired them from afar - printing out the tutorials, reading them, and filing them in my craft room for 'some day"!! Well, I finally got the nerve to try it out a month or so ago - and WOWZA - I can actually make them!! I made 4 while I was at it - trying out different colors. Here is the link to all of her flower tutorials and here is the link to the one I used - using Tim's Tattered Florals die.

So I used one of the flowers I made on my tag today. I forgot to write down the colors I used when I created them - but I started with Rustic Cream card stock and inked it in a light orange Distress Ink. Then for my tag I spritzed it with Espresso Distress Spray Stain for a more fallish look. I brushed a layer of Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint all over the petals and spooned on some Black Micro Beads - then set it aside to dry. The rose looks rather like a piece of fudge here with the Crackle paint still wet!!??!!

Here you can see the light color better, that is under the Ground Espresso stain! I adhered the rose over the stamped stem with Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive.

I colored two trimmings to loop through the top of my tag. First a piece of Trimmings/Lace

and then a piece of Crinkle Ribbon. I colored both by rubbing Distress Inks Fossilized Amber and Rusty Hinge on my craft mat, spritzing with water and rubbing the trimmings through it - and drying with my heat tool.

This fortnight I was inspired by the field of red poppies - although my blooms are roses and I used cranberry and pink for my colors, but close enough, right! I made the background using Adirondack Alcohol Inks, Gold Mixative and Alcohol Blending solution - all dripped onto a Blending Tool and pounced all over the Glossy Cardstock panel.

Here's a close up of how the Alcohol Inks look - the gold is actually irridescent IRL and the surface is all shiny like a glass tile. I added black rhinestones to the center of each rose.

How will you be inspired by the Fusion Challenge this week? Please join us and link up your card! Here are links to the rest of the talented Fusion Design Team!

Saturday, October 24, 2015

I've got another Christmas card for the box today! I used the wonderful deer stamp from the same stamp set I used on my last post - Rustic Christmas by Waltzingmouse.

I stamped the deer with Versamark Ink and embossed him with gold embossing powder - then fussy cut him out. I made the frame by nesting two Stitched Edge Rectangles inside each other. I cut it out of Coredinations paper and layered it all over a piece of Barnwood patterned paper.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

I have been straight out at work this week - we have a site visit coming up and we are preparing all of the information the reviewers need to see - so every night I've been coming home mentally exhausted! But tonight when I got home - I wanted to sit in my craft room, relax and make a card!

The festive sentiment stocking is from the Rustic Christmas Set and the foliage sprig is from the Scandi Doodle Christmas set - both by Waltzingmouse. I stamped the stocking in Classic Kraft and the foliage in Simply Chartreuse. I laid my Wendy Vecchi Basically Bricks stencil over the stampings and sponged around them trying not to go right up to the sides of the stocking. The lightness around the stocking gives the feeling of depth - even though this is a one layer card.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Another spooky Halloween project from me today - may be the last of the season as I feel the pull of Thanksgiving and Christmas!!! I made these using cardboard coffins that I purchased last year at an after season sale at Michaels. I made them to sell at our church fair that was this past weekend. I didn't go overboard in decorating as we sell things pretty inexpensively at the fair and wanted to make these up quickly.

It's pretty much all Tim Holtz for decoration ( The Undertaker, bat die,spider die) accept for the Happy Halloween from Midnight Feast by Waltzingmouse. I added red rhinestones in the eye sockets for a little bit of SPOOK! There's a die cut bat fluttering on the top hat.

The stamp is an old advertisement for an undertaker in Marblehead, MA a lovely coastal town - which is just a few towns over from where I live - thought that was pretty cool! I put some Orange Stickles on the body of the die cut spider - it looks sparkly green for some reason I guess because of the black cardstock.

Here's a photo of how the caskets looked before I painted them with Graphite Texture Paint. It feels sandy and has a great sparkle to it! I marked off where the cover fit over the bottom and didn't paint there as the top wouldn't have fit over the bottom. I painted the inside, the back of the box and the rim with black acrylic paint

Here you can see the painted edge and insides - as well as the little bag of candy I put inside.

I made 4 of them - and they all sold - of course we sell things cheap at the fair - $5.00 was the price. The plain caskets were marked $3.99 from Michaels - but I'm pretty sure I had purchased them for $2 if not less last year.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

I'm excited to say that I was just chosen to be one of the Dirty Dozen over at Splitcoaststampers! I joined SCS in 2006 so it was a long wait - but I finally made it into the Dirt Pile!
So, today I played along with the SCS Inspiration Challenge - where our inspiration was an Illustrations Pinterest Board.

I was so inspired - I made two cards from two different illustrations.

Here is the illustration that inspired my first card - isn't this a sweet nighttime scene?!

First I stamped the Spooky Tree Background stamp from Waltzingmouse
on a white panel using True Black Ink from PTI. I stamped the foliage
and daisies along the bottom with Archival Jet Black Ink. I made a
mask by punching a piece of Eclipse tape with a circle punch and placed
it where I wanted the moon to be. I sponged the whole panel with Smokey
Shadow Distress Ink and then sponged the edges with Chipped Sapphire
Distress Ink. I placed my Tim Holtz Speckles Stencil over the panel and
inked over it with a Dew Drop Brilliance Midnight White ink pad to make
my starry sky. I removed the circle mask and layered my die cut kitty from Poppy Stamps onto the tree branch with a foam dot.

First I stamped the skyline by inking the stamp with Chipped Sapphire
Distress Ink and then just pouncing Ground Espresso Distress ink on a
few spots to give a two tone look. I spritzed the stamp with water and stamped it on my white
cardstock panel.
Then I sponged a little bit in the center with Distress Spun Sugar to
represent the pink of the sunrise (or sunset) on the buildings. I
stamped the Runway girl over the skyline and the sentiment in the corner
using Ground Espresso Ink.
Next I sponged the whole panel with Distress Weathered Wood Ink. I
sprayed some water into my palm and then flicked water onto the panel
with my fingers to give the illusion of looking through the apartment
window (like the illustration). I drew the lines with my black fine
point Micron pen and layered the die cut kitty with foam tape.
I'm also linking my skyline card to:Seize the Birthday - Toppings - Splatter (water splatter)

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Today's the start of the next fortnightly Fusion Challenge - and it's an All Hallows Eve inspiration photo for us this week along with a wonderful layered panel sketch. We had so many beautiful fall creations last challenge - you guys are just creatively awesome!!

As always you can be inspired by the photo or by the sketch - OR you can do a Fusion and be inspired by both! I was inspired by both this week - using the candelabra from the photo and using the sketch for my card design!

I used orange and diamond stickles on the candles for the flame and the wax drip - but as they dried - they look the same color - opulescent glittery - I think it's because the background is black?!

The candelabra is an older Tim Holtz die called Candlelight Fright. I cut it out of Onyx Shimmer paper from PTI so it has a little shimmer to it IRL - not sure if you can see it in the close-up photos. The Halloween patterned papers are from a 6x6 pad from Authentique called Enchanted.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

I had a lot of fun creating this spooky Halloween window box! I pulled out some older Tim Holtz dies, as well as my newer Eileen Hull Window Box die.

I have a couple of photos of how I started work on this. I die cut Pumpkin Jack out of watercolor paper and pulled it through Distress Spray Stains Tea Dye, Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade) and water that I had spritzed onto my craft mat. I kept pressing the paper into the colors until it was the way I wanted it.

I did the same thing with the stem using Tea Dye and Mowed Lawn Spray Stains.

I die cut the Gothic Boo and 31 out of black Coredinations paper then brushed Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle paint over them.

Then I got so into creating my project that I neglected to take any more 'process' photos! I die cut the Window Box out of black matboard and put it together. Then I adhered a piece of Sunset Vellum behind the window pane. I brushed more Clear Rock Candy Crackle over the entire Window Box. I die cut the face out of Pumpkin Jack using the Scary Jack O Lantern Movers and Shapers dies. I decided not to put any paper behind the face as I liked the look of seeing the window right through Pumpkin Jack. I adhered the Gothic BOO along the top of the window and the die cut spider from Candlelight Fright die off the B. I added Tiny Twinkles for the spider's eyes.

I die cut the foliage using Garden Greens die cutting two out of tan and two out of green Core-dinations paper. I sponged the edges with Ground Espresso Distress Ink - then brushed Clear Rock Candy Crackle paint over them. When dry, I adhered them to the inside of the window box. I adhered the 31 from Gothic Boo on the front of the box with more foam tape.

I adhered Pumpkin Jack to the window using layered pieces of black foam
tape so he was held away from the window in back and away from the
foliage in front!

Here you can see the vellum adhered over the window panes from the back.

The window box measures 4 3/4" x 6" (not including the extended Boo or
foliage!) so it's a great size decoration for a shelf or window sill or
even a table centerpiece!- I really love how it came out!

I'm linking my Pumpkin Jack in the Windowbox to the following challenges:

About Me

I have loved doing arts and crafts all my life. I live in Massachusetts and am very happily married to Kent who encourages my craftiness! I have one grown son, and two beautiful Russian blue cats.
I started my blog as a place to share my card stamping and paper arts - I hope it inspires you as all of your blogs inspire me!

Copyright

All content including design work, text, and photos is copyright Julia Aston. Everything here is for personal enjoyment only. Please do not use to submit for publication or contests.

FTC Declaration

In accordance with FTC 16 CFR part 255, I declare that I have, or in the past have, received products from the following companies to promote and endorse for free:Waltzingmouse StampsCreations by ARRubbernecker StampsPouch MartSweet n' Sassy StampsPSA EssentialsMark's Finest PapersH&M StampsArtful Inkable Stamps